Port Maitland "On the Grand" Historical
Association

Port Maitland, Ontario, Canada

In part one "April 12, 2000," I wrote about the Maitland No 1's maiden voyage on a very stormy night in October, 1916.

In this part I tell you what effect this ship had on the creation of a
cottage resort at the mouth of the Grand River, called Beckley
Beach.Coming on June 14th is a story that got its start from an article
in the Chronicle in January this year when Gord Mcleod found the
remains of a ship just off his marina.- "Is it the Belladonna or is it
the Elmira"

Part Two of Maitland No One

Not Everyone was Amused

Not everyone was amused by this great ship entering their "pond. She
would run at least ten months of the year and all year weather
permitting. In a recent letter, Mary Mullner, the daughter of Dolly
Gray -former owner of Dolly Gray Hotel at Port Maitland,- reminisces
with Betty Phillips, (Mrs. Gordon Phillips of Byng) about skating on
the smooth ice of the Grand River before the arrival of the car ferry.
Until the arrival of the Maitland No. 1, the river had long been used
by the children on both banks as their private skating pond.

Maitland No. 1, runs aground

On December 23, 1919, the ship was grounded for five days on Lowes
Point. Her sister ship, the Marquette-Bessemer No. 2, pulled her safely
off the reef after she shed her load of thirty railway cars of coal,
wire and one of oil, into Lake Erie. There were plans to recover them
the following spring. The issue as to the existence of the wire and oil
cars remains in dispute as those who remember, and should know, say
there were no wire or oil cars on board. Some newspaper accounts
immediately following the incident however, state these cars were on
board and dumped into the lake. Isn't history fun? I have searched
newspaper articles following this accident and have found other
newspaper accounts mentioning only coal cars. Further research has not
found indication of the cars being recovered. You may recall an article
in the August 19, 1998 Chronicle titled AMysteries lurk in Lake Erie's
depths. In this article Angus Scott reported on the work that a local
diver by the name of Gerald MacDonald was doing to find the lost rail
cars from a ferry. The cars that Gerald was looking for were those from
the Maitland No. 1.

On March 25, 1927, she ran aground on Tecumseh Shoal damaging her hull.
Maitland McKeown, a wheel man on board, recalls volunteering to go
ashore for provisions with a number of other crewmen. They walked to
shore on the ice and returned pulling sleighs loaded with provisions.
Mishaps were common on the lakes in those days. It was only the year
before that the Maitland No. 1, had been involved in a thrilling rescue
of sixteen men from the sand sucker, Howard S. Gerkin, that sank during
an August storm in 1926, with the loss of four crew members.

The Maitland No. 1 is important to mention, not only for her capacity
as an early twentieth century freighter, but for how she altered the
course of Port Maitland. Only a handful of the current cottagers recall
seeing this ship. The Maitland No. 1, was small by today's standards.

Most current summer residences who recall any ship entering Port
Maitland, remember the much larger coal carriers, such as the Midland
Prince and the R.O. Petman, formerly known as the E.B. Osler. Other
ships though not so large, to visit Port Maitland were the Valley Camp,
Charles Wilson, Coalhaven, and Collier.

Had the TH&B not operated the ferry service from Ashtabula to Port
Maitland it is unlikely the facility at Port Maitland would have
developed. Other railways had looked at running rail lines through of
near Port Maitland but none ever did. The TH&B was concerned about
this and wanted to reduce the competition. It has been suggested that
the land on the east side of the Grand River from Dunnville to Port
Maitland was purchased by the railway as a means of blocking access to
the Grand River by its competitors. If the railway had not determined
one full week could be cut from the delivery time of rail cars to
cities in Ohio and Pennsylvania by shipping them via Port Maitland,
there would have been no need to build the tracks to Port Maitland. Had
there not been tracks and a station at Port Maitland, William J.
Warnick, a young executive with the railway in 1916, would not have had
any reason to choose this location to spend his summers.

It was through the efforts of W J Warnick that Mr. Beckley first
consented to rent tenting lots. Eventually these lots were used for
many of the cottages which exist there today. WJ Warnick's son Joe,
says the railway was not very interested in the cottages, nor in
anything on the south side of the feeder. Their only interest was that
Athe car ferry carry her freight back and forth across Lake Erie on
schedule. He suggested, "It might have been a dream of his father's to
make Beckley Beach a nice resort place on Lake Erie.

When we look at the list of early Beckley Beach cottagers we find;
Edward J. McNally, Edward F. Boyle, Manny Hurst, James Grieghtmire,
Michael Hayes, Jack Kelly, Joe Kelly, Hank Martin, William McPherson,
Steve Jones, Dr. James McGowan, Dr. Wm. Downes, Father James A. Ford
and Monsignor George Cassidy, to name only a few. If we dig a bit
further we will find their connection to the TH&B as employees, or
through a friendship with WJ Warnick. I hear stories from old-timers
that if you wanted to put up a tent (later a cottage) at Beckley Beach
and you did not know WJ Warnick personally, you asked a friend to vouch
for you. It would seem that my grandfather decided who could come and
who could not!

Another interesting event that took place with the arrival of the
Maitland No. 1 was the purchase of land south of the feeder canal which
is where Beckley Beach is located. In June 1915, individual homesteads
owned by many of the old Port Maitland pioneers were purchased by John
N. Beckley for $1.00 each, totaling $14.00. Then within a day or two
the combined package was sold to the TH&B for a dollar. Remember,
Mr. Beckley was the President of the TH&B! One would wonder how he
would have survived in to-days real-estate market! Within two days he
lost $13.00 on his $14.00 transaction. There is clearly another story
here, but it will have to wait for another day.

Once the TH&B had a station and a station agent, who by the way was
Thomas J. Kenney they began running a summer passenger service to Port
Maitland. They even ran advertisements in various city newspapers
expounding on the virtues of Port Maitland as a summer resort. Rates at
some of the local establishments were included in railway ads. In a
1923 advertisement in the Hamilton Spectator, the railway promotes
local fishing. AGood Fishing at Port Maitland; Good catches are brought
in by parties spending the day at the port. Take TH&B trains.
Leaving at 9:02 a.m. and 2:13 p.m. Returning leaves Port Maitland 6
p.m. Service commences June 23.

The railway even promoted the YWCA and Boy Scout camps where the Big
Brothers also camped. WJ Warnick was also involved with the Big
Brothers being the President of the Hamilton chapter, the first in
Canada. WJ Warnick was very active in getting the children from the Big
Brothers organization to Port Maitland and seeing to the religious
needs of the Roman Catholic children at both the YWCA camp and Scout
camp.

If ever there was one event that changed the course of time at Port
Maitland, it was the Maitland No. 1, introducing railway management and
workers to the sand and water of Beckley Beach.

Due to a number of factors such as the opening of the enlarged Welland
Canal in 1932, the depression and other markets for coal the need for
the Maitland No. 1, decreased until it was no longer feasible to
operate. She made her last voyage on June 28, 1932, to Ashtabula Ohio,
as her service to Port Maitland ended. She remained out of service
until 1935, when she was leased to the Nicholson Universal Steamship
Company and put into service carrying automobiles across Lake Michigan
between Muskegon Michigan and Milwaukee Wisconsin. Legal arguments over
ownership took her from service in 1937. With war looming she was
requisitioned by the American government who used her engines and sold
her hull. She was now reduced to a pulpwood barge.

The purpose of this article was not to tell the story of the Maitland
No. 1. It was to give an understanding of what took place thus setting
the stage for the development of the cottage area on the east side of
the Grand River known as Beckley Beach. But what the heck! She was an
interesting ship and for many years a constant at Port Maitland. Oh,
and just to finish the story, the Maitland No. 1, continued a rather
rag tag existence until she foundered in a January storm in 1981. She
had only days before been assigned Honduran registration and renamed
Trio Trado. She was under tow and heading for a Mexican port, when off
Yarmouth Nova Scotia she rolled over and sank.

Coalfax

Collier

R O Petman

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these articles.